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| Best Business Practices
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- To keep clients, you need to connect
Retaining customers requires effort from marketing and sales teams, writes Ryan Connors, and retention strategies should be all about making people feel valued. Personalize your communications and embrace social media to connect, and put more effort into understanding what motivates your current customers, Connors advises. He suggests making a special effort to do something nice for your bread-and-butter customers and shifting your focus from what you can offer to how you can improve prospects' lives. B2C Marketing Insider
(2/18)
- Social media musts and minefields
When using social media for professional purposes, you should generally avoid posting anything negative or politically charged, writes Álvaro J. Soltero. Embrace hashtags and make sure grammar is correct before posting to social media, Soltero advises, and stay engaged. "If you ignore your community, your community will start ignoring you, and eventually you will have no community at all," Soltero says. Social Media Today
(2/15)
| Industry Insight
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- CMS: Part D premiums to fall in 2014
Medicare Part D beneficiaries will have lower premiums in 2014, due to lower-than-expected increases in health spending, CMS said in a statement. Part D's standard deductible will be $310, or 4.6% lower than in 2013. Copayments are also expected to be down. Bloomberg
(2/15)
- The pros and cons of expanding Medicaid
 States should expand Medicaid because choosing not to do so would leave many working families without coverage, and would not do anything to alleviate the costly burden of uncompensated care, George Washington University professor Sara Rosenbaum writes. The Heritage Foundation's Ed Haislmaier writes that states should opt out of Medicaid expansion because it doesn't require people to work if they are able, and it is a disservice to push people into a system that offers substandard care. The Wall Street Journal
(2/18)
| Market Trends
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- Survey: Gen X, Gen Y say their financial expertise is limited
Twenty percent of Generation X and Y consumers say they use a financial adviser, and only 14% consider themselves "very knowledgeable" about the product options available, according to a LIMRA survey. Among Gen X households, 43% of their $3 trillion in assets are in pension and retirement accounts, with 30% in IRAs and two-thirds in defined-contribution plans, LIMRA says. Less than 50% of Gen X members said they save more than 8%, while one-fifth of Gen Y respondents said they're saving less than 3%. AdvisorOne
(2/15)
| Health Insurance Plan Company News
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| Vendor Company News
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| AHIP News
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AHIP infographic and plans’ best immunization practices
AHIP’s infographic complements its “Immunization Innovations,” an online resource featuring leading immunization programs aimed at increasing immunization rates for children, adolescents and adults. Complete with video and audio announcements and links to educational tools, Immunization Innovations highlights promising models that health plans around the country are using to improve the health of their members and communities.
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“AIS's Directory of Health Plans: 2013” shipping soon
Available in print or CD, “AIS’s Directory of Health Plans: 2013” allows you to make smart decisions based on solid data. Use the directory to identify market trends, gain insight into health plan models, determine which networks may best serve for your organization, develop benchmarks and more. Visit the AHIP Store to reserve your copy today.
| SmartQuote
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 | Everything that lives, lives not alone, nor for itself."
--William Blake,
British poet and painter
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| AHIP Solutions Team |
Managing Editor, Online Publishing:
Yvonne Chanatry
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AHIP Agents and Brokers SmartBrief Issues:
- Monday, February 18, 2013
- Friday, February 15, 2013
- Thursday, February 14, 2013
- Wednesday, February 13, 2013
- Tuesday, February 12, 2013
| | | Lead Editor:
Melissa Turner
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